L2L Day 91 Leverburgh to Tarbert

With a forecast for rain throughout the day - heavy at times, 

we decided that today was going to be a Rest Day for exploring the East coast of Harris - the Bays and the "Golden Road" as the locals call it because of what it cost to build.

At our accommodation,  we'd met Charlie and Kay who had been cycling on Harris for a few days and were returning to Edinburgh this morning by car. 

At 09:30  we set off on the W10 bus with a number of locals already on board. We had an amusing conversation all the way, with the chat changing from English to Gaelic and back a number of times. We talked about whether having Sea eagles on Harris was beneficial to the island, the negative effects of Air B&B on the island economy, the attractions of living in Jordan.....you can never tell where conversations are going to go!

The route is a single track switchback with sheep lying in the road seemingly at every bend in the road.

The East and West coasts of Harris are significantly different in character. The West coast has a narrow fertile machair seaboard with headlands separating long sandy beaches. The East coast consists of narrow rocky inlets with the few buildings perched close to the water. During the Highland Clearances the population was driven away from the West to the East to eke out what they could from the thin soil while the fertile ground was given over to sheep.

The Hebridean way follows the old 'coffin path' -  there being insufficient depth of soil on the East side to even bury their dead so the coffins would have been carried across the mountain to Seilibost where at least the dead would have had a decent burial.

Unfortunately with the rain, a thick sea mist and the condensation on the windows, it wasn't easy to see much.

By the time we arrived in Tarbert there wasn't anything for it but to drop our bags off at the hotel and head out for a coffee at The Deli. 

The premises is so small that they sell over a counter just inside the doorway so we took our coffees across the road in the rain to find a table at the Bank of Scotland (recently closed and repurposed as a warm seating place for The Deli). How's that for innovation?

Having nursed our coffees and cannollis for as long as we could, we headed back out into the rain for a short walk around the small town square to watch the ferry arrive from Skye - and walk back to the hotel to plan the rest of the day.

A helpful notice board at the bus station!!

With a brief break in the weather we took a bus to Seilibost

for a lovely walk across the machair to the beach which seemed to stretch out for miles. 

 

Sally had timed our walk so that we could enjoy some time on the beach and catch the return bus an hour later.

A bit of a soggy day! By the time we arrived back, the rain had stopped, the wind dropped and a first for our time on the islands, the midges decided to come out to play. Time to head indoors - perhaps a quick tasting at the distillery?!

Over supper, there was a power cut that we heard later had apparently affected the whole island. Despite the growing gloamin we enjoyed a glass of wine on the house 

and eventually walked back to the hotel with ever darkening skies over the harbour 

with rumbles of thunder and threateningly large raindrops.

The power cut lasted for a few hours but all had been restored by midnight.